E3: Guess What? I Have More Pics

Regular_Stormy

Yesterday’s highlight was a surprise free concert by Snoop Dogg to promote the cartoon snail movie Turbo. I think the female DJ from Power 106 who kept trying to urge the crowd to “make some noise!” was more used to hardcore hip-hop fans than exhausted, half-drunk gaming journalists sweating in the direct sunlight, but once Snoop hit the stage, he brought the energy level up, big-time, which you wouldn’t necessarily have expected from a guy famous for smoking weed and a laid-back delivery. He was brief, but brought his A-game for sure. And there were free tacos.

Snoop was introduced by his costars in the movie, Michael Pena and Michelle Rodriguez.

I got to play the new Pac-Man game, which is hardly a ground-breaker but gave me warm fuzzies anyway, despite being more Spyro-style than classic Pac. The yellow guy’s big fight move is a shoulder tackle rather than a big bite; if you collide with a ghost while doing it, they die, but if you collide with them any other time – or they vomit slime on you – you take damage. In a nice throwback, the sound effect when you die is the same as in the original game, and the entire screen becomes a decreasing circle like P.M. himself used to.

If you do a sequel, Namco, can you please call it 2Pac?

Or maybe…2Pac, 2 Furious.

Here’s a full-sized space capsule for some reason.

And a lone costume from Pacific Rim. No signs of a tie-in game, though, which is too bad – seems a natural.

Jet Li has a game, though.

And every year I’ve been to E3 (this is my third) there is ALWAYS a tank. Always.

Here’s a gallery show of game-inspired art.

Some years ago for LA CityBeat, I wrote a piece examining whether or not you could burn significant calories playing video games. Responses from actual trainers ranged from, “Well, it’s slightly better than nothing,” to “Hell fucking no.” It’s a new era, folks, and I for one think this is a great idea. It’d be even better if your cycling actually powere dthe TV, but baby steps.

Do you prefer your DC heroes to look mean…

…or cute?

Speaking of cute, the Duck Tales game had a soundproof karaoke booth where people could sing the theme and share it on social media.

Here’s a guy I haven’t seen in a while. I kicked and punched him, but all in my mind.

I also got to meet up with reader Regular_Stormy, who was kind enough to share this photo of the best hair in show.

Regular_Stormy

One more day!